The best, the worst, the psychopaths, and the fighters
by Ellie Enchanted
Summary: In a full-blown zombie apocalypse, the survivors form groups to try and stay alive. But when they start running into each other in the streets of an infected city, complications arise. "If we're going to do this apocalypse survival thing, we're going to do it right." AU
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

"Ugh. That is absolutely disgusting," Ino complained as the blood from a zombie splattered the front of her school uniform. That didn't stop her from whirling around and smashing another one in the face with the piece of metal pipe she was holding.

"Ino, stop talking. You'll only attract more," Sakura ordered as she knocked the head off of a zombie that was getting a little too close to Hinata with her hot pink baseball bat.

"Th-thank you, Sakura-chan." The shy girl smiled shakily at her friend before snapping the neck of the last corpse to approach their little group. She flinched at the sound and looked like she was going to cry. CLICK!

"Hey guys, I got the lock open!" The three girls turned to the last member of their little group, Tenten, who was crouched in front of the P.E. storage closet doors and grinning up at them. She stood and opened the door, revealing a stash of equipment, and a girl with red hair who was frantically shoving things in her empty backpack. The girl, Karin Uzumaki, the meanest, most popular girl in Hidden Leaf Girls' High School, jumped up and spun around, only to relax as she saw living people.

"Oh my god, I thought I was the only one left this deep in the school! Here, take anything you need." The others nodded and moved past her while she continued stuffing her bag. Tenten locked the door behind her. When all five girls were finished, they exchanged looks and, after a tense moment, sat down. Sakura was the first to speak up.

"Why are you still in here, Karin? I would've thought you would get out as soon as possible. "Said girl snorted.

"Look, I might act like a bitchy airhead most of the time, but I'm not actually stupid. Zombies go where people are, but they don't think. They wouldn't know someone might be hiding in here as long as I stayed quiet. A mass exodus makes a lot of noise. Going with the crowd would have been suicide. By the same logic, the Zombies will be drawn out of the school as they follow the noise. I'm safe here. Why would I move? The real question is, what are you doing here? You guys all know how to fight, even Hyuuga over there. You could get out of the school safe easily." Sakura blinked, taking in the information.

"Wow, that was actually . . . really smart, Karin. As for why we're still here, we needed weapons." She hefted her new metal bat, red this time, which replaced the old wood one. Tenten held up a bow and several quivers of arrows, which she was currently stuffing into her bag. Ino gestured to a lacrosse stick, which she was currently stripping of its net, duct tape and an assortment of sharp objects sitting next to her. Hinata shyly waved a wooden practice sword in the air. "Also, the P.E. closet has a lot of energy bars and drinks, supplies for the locker room, and most importantly, first aid stuff. We already hit the nurse's office, and, our next stop is the cafeteria. If we're really doing this apocalypse survival thing, we're going to do it right."

The redhead took a moment to think about that, then she asked, "Do you think I can come with you?"

Sakura took a moment to look around and exchange looks with the other three. Then she grinned, big. "Let's get you a weapon." Karin grinned even bigger.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL _ARE _THESE THINGS?" Kiba shrieked, causing Neji to slap a hand over his friend's mouth.

"Shut up, you're going to get us all killed," Sasuke hissed. "Haven't you noticed they react to sound and sudden movements?"

Kiba glared at the raven. "But it just. Won't. Die!" he whined, stabbing the corpse through the chest with a curtain rod once more. It finally fell when his huge dog, Akamaru, jumped up and snapped its neck in his powerful jaws.

"That's cause you gotta stab it in the head! Jeez Kiba, it's like you've never even seen a zombie movie," Naruto laughed as he killed yet another monster with the huge knife he found in the home economics classroom.

CLANG! SMACK! THUD!

"Actually, Naruto," Shikamaru stated, twirling his frying pan as both dispatched corpses fell at his feet, "You just need to break the connection with the brain. Snapping their necks or spines works just as well. Going for the head is so troublesome. And messy."

"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS IS NORMAL? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?" Suigetsu yelled, eyes wide.

"Shut. Up!" Sasuke hissed again. Neji made his way over.

"Why is he here again?" he asked.

Sasuke gave a long-suffering sigh. "The dobe was too much of a bleeding heart to let him get swarmed."

"Oh, right."

"I can hear you, you know," the white haired boy grumbled.

"Shikamaru, what's the plan for after we get out of the school?" Naruto asked as he stabbed yet another zombie.

"We stay in the city."

"WHAT?" this time, neither Neji nor Sasuke shushed their loud friends, instead joining them in staring at Shikamaru.

"Hear me out. We stay in the city because while there are dead, there are also resources. Resources that everyone else will leave alone, because it's too troublesome to go get them. I suggest we find a mall. We can clear a department store of the dead, lock down the doors, and keep the keys for ourselves. Only we can get in or out, and everything we need is in the mall, if not the store itself. It's not the safest, but it will keep us alive." The others thought about it for a moment, then Sasuke nodded.

"That sounds reasonable."

Having decided on a course of action, Kiba pushed open the door to the parking lot, and all six boys threw themselves back into the fray.

* * *

Temari was not happy. But she also wasn't all that disturbed by the moving corpses of her classmates, nor did she feel any guilt for killing them. For twelve years her brother had been a raging, murderous killing machine with a dangerous mental disease that he couldn't control. He was fine now, but still. Temari was no stranger to violence or death. Compared to a full-blown Shukaku transformation, these zombie things were like a badly-made horror movie. No, the reason for Temari's displeasure was that she didn't know where her brothers were. She knew they were alive, she knew they were together, she knew they were in the city, but she had absolutely no idea how to find them.

She cursed, shoving another snapping mouth away from her. If they hadn't been on this stupid field trip, everything would be fine. But no. They just HAD to "observe other cultures", according to her teacher, and Gaara and Kankuro just HAD to go see the Hokage monument instead of the museum, because "Mari, it's just a stuffy old building full of useless stuff!"

She glanced behind her to the large display of leaf style war fans, the edges of the foldable weapons honed to razor sharpness. Useless stuff, huh?

The blonde girl leapt up, smashing the glass and scooping up the first two fans she reached. Temari then whipped around, immediately slicing off the head of a zombie. She whistled in astonishment at the blade, still sharp enough to slice flesh and bone with little resistance, even after centuries sitting on display. Then she launched herself at the next monster.

Three minutes later, the room was clear, and Temari thanked kami that there weren't many people in the room when the tour guide started to turn. Then she took a moment to observe the assortment of deadly weapons scattered in showcases around the room. Well, it wasn't like anyone was going to visit now, anyway. The blonde happily scooped up the other seven fans and deposited them in her bag. Then she cleaned the blood off the two in her hands and hung them from her belt. She also took several large, scary-looking knives, an old, but good quality spear, which she strapped across her back, and, after a moment's consideration, two beautifully crafted katana. Then turned to the door. There was no point in staying here any longer. She was sure she would find her brothers if she wandered the city enough.

No, the day had still not been a good one, but it was getting better, and Temari left the room with a smile on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"Hey, you know what we should do?" Ino chirped. "We should totally pretend this is, like, a zombie show. Like, everyone gets roles in the group and we make up a cool name for the infected."

The group was heading further onto the city, toward the shopping district. The streets were quiet and desolate, but full of the dead, so the girls stuck to alleys, cutting through the swarms only when they had no choice.

Sakura sighed. "Ino, that's ridiculous. This is a serious and tragic disaster. We can't be joking around."

Ino's face fell. "I know it's Awful, Sakura. I know, my parents are almost definitely dead and so are Shika and Chouji. But I can't think about that. So I just thought..." To be perfectly honest, the blonde wanted to cry. But that wouldn't help anything. She was stronger. She needed her family, but she had her friends to think about now.

Silence reigned for a few minutes as the group passed through an open square, moving slowly and carefully so as to avoid detection by the dead. The air was filled with an awkward silence as they made it to the next alley. Still no one spoke.

"… I guess I'm the healer, then," Sakura grumbled, and Ino beamed, recognizing her friend's peace offering.

"Tenten is definitely the sniper," Ino added, and the brown haired girl looked smug.

"I'll be a better sniper once I have a gun," she commented with a grin. "Hinata is the sweet one that we all protect and everybody wants to make it out alive."

Said girl blushed. "Th-thank you. I think K-Karin is the one who makes the plans."

"Yeah, but not the leader," Sakura chimed in, "we shouldn't have a leader. And I guess that leaves Ino-pig as the one everybody goes to with their problems!"

Ino grimaced. "Yay me. Hey, we still need a badass. Every team has to have a badass! Tenten or Forehead could be, but they already have roles." She frowned. Ino Yamanaka liked perfection. She liked perfection, but she didn't need it. So she shrugged and moved on.

"Hey, you never know. Maybe we'll run into some total badass girl who gets along with all of us, is alone, and wants a group! I mean, stranger things have happened!" the entire group giggled a little at Tenten's joke. Because really, what are the odds of THAT happening?

"It's perfect. "

Six boys were standing in a deserted parking lot, staring up at the huge building, a department store that sold nearly everything and connected from the inside to a large mall. The place looked torn through, one sliding door shattered and the other simply ripped away, lying a few feet away from the opening. On the inside, the boys could see knocked over displays of kitchen appliances and bathroom towels.

"How? The place is ruined, and probably infested too. There's no way anyone can live in there."

Shikamaru smirked. "Exactly. No one will come in, they'll just assume the same thing you did. That keeps away troublesome survivors who have banded together. If we join another group, we'll have to share our supplies, worry about more people, and make more noise. And it's not completely ruined. The dooors might be gone, but look at the grate. It's strong, and fully intact. If they have something like that on one entrance, they'll have it on all of them."

Sasuke nodded, considering Shikamaru's words. Naruto beamed. If Shika said it was good, he believed him. "So how are we going to clear it out?"

Kiba smirked, and Suigetsu winced, recognizing the look. Dog Boy was about to do something incredibly stupid. "That's easy! Just make some noise!" and with that, he slammed his makeshift weapon down on the mangled doorframe, creating a huge, ringing, CRASH! Form inside the previously silent building, shuffling sounds began to come nearer.

Neji facepalmed. "Yeah, that's one way to do it." Thin an arrogant smirk crept over his face. "Hey, Uchiha. Who do you think can take out more corpses?"

A matching smirk formed on Sasuke. "Hn." Out of the thousands of different 'hn's in an Uchiha's vocabulary, this one could be taken to mean, "Not you." The two boys began sprinting for the door just as the first pale, shuffling body appeared in the doorway. Naruto took off straight after them, with the rest following soon.

"Hey, teme! Wait for me!"

Sabaku no Temari had been displeased. Now, she was beginning to be frustrated. It really should not be this hard to walk through the streets. She had to either keep entirely silent as she slipped through the monotonous crowds of shifting reanimated corpses (Which was disgusting, not to mention _creepy_), or stay in the thin, shadowy alleys, slipping form place to place. Overall, it was very time consuming. Several hours walking, and Temari wasn't even halfway to the monument.

At this rate, it would take forever to find her brothers, especially since they would have most likely left the monument by now. There were so many places they could have gone, and the stupid mountain was the closest to her location. Kami, why was Konoha so BIG? Not that Suna was any different, but still.

The dirty blonde had to smother an angry scream. It was bad enough being out on the streets in the apocalypse, but being out alone? She was absolutely miserable. Her weapons were heavy, the sun hot the air stagnant, and the stink of death ever present. She hated it. And even though Sabakus were never scared, most of all the eldest of the sand siblings, she began to feel something akin to it creep in.

Not fear, but doubt. Maybe Gaara and Kankuro were really dead. Maybe they weren't, but she would never find them. What if she died? Who would ever know or care? Temari was so immersed in her thoughts that she never even noticed there was a corner coming up until she walked up to it…and straight into a person.

Immedietlly, the foreign girl was back three steps, fans out, battle stance ready. But across from her wasn't a body. She was staring into the bright green eyes of a living girl with pink hair, who was clutching a baseball bat.

"Huh." Well shit. What happens now?


End file.
